Xander Schauffele reveiws Rory McIlroy’s ‘hard’ achievement’s impact – “It took him 11 years”

Xander Schauffele won two major championships, the PGA Championship and The Open Championship, last year. The 31-year-old finished T8 at the Masters last year, missing out on a possible third major title. The ace golfer watched Rory McIlroy clinch the Green Jacket and complete his career grand slam at Augusta. He has now dubbed the experience “extremely motivating.”

Schauffele shed light on “how hard it is” to win all majors and clinch the career grand slam. He reiterated that his rival from Northern Ireland took ‘11 years’ to complete the big achievement. Stating that three-time major winner Jordan Spieth is the “next closest,” the 2024 PGA Championship admitted being “far away” from it. However, Schauffele admitted his wish to claim the ‘career accomplishment’ and dubbed it a “big honor” for golfers like him.

Speaking about the impact of Rory McIlroy’s career grand slam ahead of the Truist Championship, Xander Schauffele said, as quoted by ASAP Sports:

“Yeah, it's a couple things. I think you realize how hard it is. It took him 11 years, and Jordan is the next closest, and then everyone else before that had like three years before they clipped it… One, getting yourself in position to do it would be awesome. I'm far away. Closer than some, but I still feel far away…

I still need to win another major before -- I should say the correct major before I'm in the talks of it. Yeah, it's extremely motivating. It's something I've always wanted to do. I think there's a reason there's only seven guys. It's a big honor, and it's quite the career accomplishment.”

Furthermore, Schauffele claimed having “a lot of things” that motivate him to win more major titles. The 2019 Masters runner-up stated that winning the career grand slam is something he “always wanted to do.”

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Xander Schauffele gets honest about Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler’s recent success

Rory McIlroy has so far won three events on the PGA Tour this year, including The Players Championship and the Masters. Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler, who won the Masters last year and bagged the PGA Tour Player of the Year title, clinched his maiden victory of the year at The CJ Cup Byron Nelson last week. Interestingly, Xander Schauffele admitted that his peers’ results have motivated him.

However, he stated that this wasn’t ‘motivation’ to ‘remind people’ of his own major successes, but to improve his game.

Replying to a media query about McIlroy and Scheffler’s recent successes, Xander Schauffele said, as quoted by ASAP Sports:

“I don't think it's motivation to remind people. I think it's just motivation to play better and to keep working hard… Whenever anyone does anything, if I'm sidelined or have an off week, watching Scottie shoot the lights out in Dallas, that's motivating. Just motivating to get better at what I do and to show up and try to get myself in contention to win.”

It is pertinent to note that Xander Schauffele currently sits third on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) behind No.1 Scheffler and No.2 McIlroy. The ace golfer remains a top bet for this week’s Truist Championship at Philly Cricket Club despite him not registering a top-5 finish this season. His best finish so far came at the Masters, when he finished six strokes behind McIlroy at T8.